Kanye West reportedly cancels Coachella 2022 performance

NME

Kanye West has pulled out of his headline performance at this year’s Coachella festival, according to reports.

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The rapper and producer was scheduled to headline the closing night of the two-weekend event, which takes place April 15-17 and April 22-24, but according to TMZ and Variety this will no longer be the case.

It’s not been made clear as to why West has cancelled his appearance at the California festival, but it’s also been reported that Travis Scott was set to perform alongside West, and he too will now no longer appear.

NME has reached out to Coachella and representatives for West for comment.

The news follows a petition that was launched by fans last month to remove West from the festival’s line-up, which currently has almost 50,000 signatures.

The Change.org petition was launched on March 17 by a user with the alias Kim Pete, following West’s suspension on Instagram for his post about Trevor Noah which contained racial slurs. Noah had commented on West’s treatment of ex-wife Kim Kardashian on a recent episode of The Daily Show, calling it “terrifying to watch”.

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Back in February, West threatened to withdraw from Coachella, after perceiving comments made by Billie Eilish to be insults aimed at Travis Scott.

Elsewhere, this year’s Grammy Awards – which took place last night (April 3) – cancelled a planned performance from West over his “concerning online behaviour”.

According to Variety, West’s team were then contacted by the Grammys to reveal that “unfortunately” a planned performance would no longer take place due to Kanye’s “concerning online behaviours,” citing a report in The Blast.

At last night’s Grammy ceremony, West took home two awards: Best Melodic Rap Performance for ‘Hurricane’ and Best Rap Song for ‘Jail’. You can see the full list of winners here.

This year’s Coachella – the first since 2019 – is set to run across two weekends (April 15-17 and April 22-24) at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. Billie Eilish and Harry Styles are set to headline the festival’s return. Swedish House Mafia will also make their return at the festival.

Other artists billed high for this year’s event are Flume, Megan Thee Stallion, Disclosure, 21 Savage, Phoebe Bridgers, Doja Cat, Joji, Jamie xx and Run The Jewels.

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